Jones wins war, and ratings too

Peter Munro -Dec 13, 2012

Ratings win ... Alan Jones.

THE DIARY

Proving that we're all winners after all, the organisers of an Alan Jones boycott have claimed victory for their cause - a day after the broadcaster boosted his radio ratings. As victories go, even dubbing it Pyrrhic is generous. But the online call to arms against the shock jock, station 2GB and its sponsors has apparently ''demonstrated that Australia rejects his methods, and in no way can he be seen as the voice of the majority''. Macquarie Radio Network incurred advertising losses of up to $1.5 million after Jones said in September the Prime Minister's late father ''died of shame'' over her ''lies'', a comment for which he later apologised. Boycott organisers Nic Lochner and Vinay Orekondy have now declared the battle done and dusted, thanking followers for proving the broadcaster's ''image of invincibility has been completely broken''. So broken in fact that Jones increased his audience share by 0.9 percentage points in ratings released on Tuesday. His breakfast show remained in the No.1 slot he has held all year, with 18.2 per cent share of listeners. 2GB's revenue is also thought to have made a near-full recovery. But the boycott organisers are not daunted by such details. ''Stripped of his influence, his capacity to damage the Australian community has been severely limited, and will simply fade over time,'' they wrote online on Wednesday. Jones, though, said he had no intention of fading away at any time. ''Everyone is entitled to their view … If they feel they have had a victory good luck to them,'' he said. ''I just get on with what I have to do.''

Thorns in the head

Good fences make good neighbours but swimming pools are another matter entirely. A Bellevue Hill neighbour of Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch's has declared they will get on famously - so long as they don't have to see each other - after the local council approved the couple's plans for an $11.6 million expansion of their stately manor. As the Herald has reported, some neighbours objected that a proposed 25-metre pool and attached ''pool room'' at the rear of the Murdochs' $23 million Georgian mansion would infringe their privacy. But Woollahra Council approved the plans on Monday on the condition the pool room be pushed back a further 1.5 metres from the rear boundary. The council had wanted the pool set back a further two metres from the boundary but was swayed by a promise from the Murdochs, pictured below, of additional planter boxes to reduce its visual impact. ''The council is shit-scared of the Murdochs,'' was one local's response. Another neighbour, Roy Jones, said he was unhappy the council ''reversed its first decision to locate the pool two metres further from the boundary''. He is unlikely to welcome the couple with a chicken casserole. ''I am sure Mr and Mrs Murdoch will be excellent neighbours and we will get on very well by maintaining our huge hedges,'' he said.

The Spiky End

In case you missed it, the Australian Pineapples Report (yes, there is such a thing) has revealed that less than half of parents prepare fresh fruit for their family on a daily basis. Thankfully, the report reveals the answer: eat more pineapple. The ''Australian Pineapples ambassador'' (we are not making this up), nutritionist Joanna McMillan, said a diet of ''fresh fruits such as pineapples is important for a child's growth and development''. The good doctor told us that pineapples are a good source of vitamin C and other nutrients. She ranked them ''slightly above average'' on the good-fruits scale, equal with mangoes and paw paw but not so high as berries. McMillan said she was paid a small amount by the ''pineapple people'' for her time as a spokeswoman. ''They're struggling like every other fresh food industry in Australia to get their message across.'' The news is better at the Big Pineapple, on the Sunshine Coast, which has attracted some 750,000 visitors in the past year. ''I don't believe it will ever return to its former glory but there's a resurgence,'' said spokeswoman Sandra Conte.

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Oh! What a lovely year

WHAT a difference four years makes. In 2008, Barack Obama was the great black hope, riding into the White House on the promise of hope and change. This year it is all he can do to stop the US falling off the ''fiscal cliff''. The presidential slogan may well have changed from ''Yes we can'' to ''Fingers crossed'' but it was enough to sway a majority of US voters in the presidential contest in November. ''We have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come,'' he said then. Herald cartoonist Rocco Fazzari has depicted Obama teetering on the edge of a cliff in stormy weather, with a long way yet to fall.

With the year in pop

POP music became even more democratic this year. With our attention spans seemingly shrinking even further, it felt like singles and viral videos, rather than artists or albums, noisily jostled to dominate the pop music conversation, says Fairfax Media music writer, Andrew Murfett. The No.1 single on the ARIA charts is a song called Thrift Shop by a little known rapper Macklemore. The song's clever video was viewed on YouTube more than 20 million times before it topped the charts. That path to No.1 is not unique. The way we consume music continues to evolve. First, we began to stream tracks almost as much as we downloaded. Still, plenty didn't change in pop music this year. For instance, for the seventh year in a row, the pop star Rihanna released another new album. She appeared naked on its cover. A list of wonderful musicians, headlined by the Bee Gees' Robin Gibbs, the great vocalist Whitney Houston, disco queen Donna Summer and the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch died. The British-Irish quintet One Direction pulled off the most successful Australian pop music promo tour in almost a decade. Likewise Taylor Swift expanded her fan base. Justin Bieber's growing pains continued. Having released his first ''adult'' album, Believe, he was snubbed by Grammy voters. At least Bieber championed the Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen and her irrepressible single Call Me Maybe. It sits only just behind Simple Song, the near-perfect comeback single from the American rock band the Shins. This year also produced a worldwide novelty hit. The recalcitrant Korean popstar Psy's mischievously catchy Gangum Style was an amusing diversion. The best r'n'b album of the year was Frank Ocean'schannel ORANGE. Although his career-defining hit Somebody That I Used To Know was released more than 18 months ago, 2012 continued the ascent of Gotye. He had the biggest-selling single of the year in Britain, a two-month chart-topping run in the US and was nominated for a handful of Grammys. More intriguing was the success in Australia of the teenage British singer Birdy. She released an album that featured mostly acoustic covers of indie-pop songs but found herself atop the ARIA charts. Pink returned with her instantly memorable single Blow Me (One Last Kiss), which debuted at No. 1. Oh yeah, she also sold out an astounding 40-something nights of arena shows. Yep, it was that sort of year.